C.Andrews Vickers Aircraft since 1908 (Putnam)

Also in the single-seat fighter class were the two Vickers pusher types, the F.B.12 and the F.B.26. Both had chequered careers. The later F.B.26 pusher was a more sophisticated design originally intended as a single-seat night-fighter, powered with a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza. During an evening test flight on 25 August, 1917, Harold Barnwell spun the prototype into the ground just after take-off at Joyce Green, almost at the feet of his devoted mechanic H. J. Kingsnorth, who had just started up the aeroplane and was the only close witness of the fatal accident. The cause of this tragedy with so able a pilot remains a mystery. Writing from New Zealand, whence he emigrated in 1919, Kingsnorth said that he never recovered from the death of his hero Harold Barnwell, who, terse of speech and bluff in manner, had played a great part in the early development of British aviation, as did his brother, Capt Frank Barnwell, of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.Three modified F.B.26s were built, and under the then recently introduced official nomenclature were named Vampire. One was modified as the F.B.26A, and named Vampire Mk II, with an armoured nacelle for ground attack, power being provided by the 230 hp Bentley B.R.2 rotary engine. But the contracts that were placed for this specialist duty type went to the Sopwith Salamander, a tractor biplane. One of the F.B.26s was fitted with the Eeman three-gun universal mounting, designed to increase fire power, but this armament proved unwieldy in practice. The F.B.26A was probably the last of the single-seat pusher fighters of the first world war, but the design philosophy was revived years later in the Vickers COW gun fighter of 1931.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

Vampire. Intended to have a single Lewis gun, the first F.B.26 (type later named Vampire) materialised in 1917 with two of these guns, set far forward in the nacelle well below the cockpit sill. As developed for Home Defence the Vampire was associated with some uncommonly interesting armament schemes. The Eeman mounting, with three Lewis guns, was fitted, at first as a fixed installation (raised higher in the nacelle on the third example) but with the intention that the mounting could eventually be elevated, in harmony with an Aldis sight, through 45 degrees. Eleven 97-round ammunition drums were specified. Adapted for ground attack, under the designation Vampire II, this aircraft had two Lewis guns set side by side in an armoured nacelle. The fitting of a BR.2 rotary aircooled engine in place of the earlier water-cooled types rendered this version less vulnerable lo ground fire. Carrying 500 lb of armour-plate, the Vampire II weighed 1.870 lb.

Jane's All The World Aircraft 1919

THE VICKERS "VAMPIRE."

The Vickers " Vampire" is a small single seater pusher biplane designed primarily for trench fighting. The small nacelle is directly under the undersurface of the upper plane and is connected to the lower plane by short struts. The tail booms are fitted at the ends of each of the rear inner interplane struts and are parallel in plan view but, in elevation, converge at the fixed tail plane. The chassis is of the customary Vee-type rubber sprung.

W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

VICKERS F.B.26 VAMPIRE UK

Curiously retrogressive in design when built in May 1917, the pusher fighter with boom-carried empennage being decidedly passe at that stage in World War I, the F.B.26 single-seat fighter had its nacelle attached directly to the upper wing. The original concept provided for a single 0.303-in (7,7-mm) Lewis gun, but an additional Lewis had been introduced by the time that the F.B.26 reached Martlesham Heath for official testing in July 1917. Power was provided by a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza engine, but inadequate cooling led to the original single flat radiator being replaced by two separate radiator blocks. On 25 August 1917, the prototype was spun into the ground by Vickers' test pilot Harold Barnwell. Nonetheless, a month later, on 19 September, a contract was placed for six examples of a modified version of the F.B.26. The wing structure was completely revised, radiator blocks were attached to the nacelle sides and a larger vertical tail was introduced. Interest in the F.B.26 centred on its potential as a Home Defence fighter, and it was proposed that armament would consist of two Lewis guns coupled with an Aldis sight and capable of several degrees of elevation and depression. However, in order to obtain greater firepower, the nacelle of the F.B.26 was modified to permit installation of an Eeman three-gun universal mounting. The first two F.B.26s had the trio of Lewis guns fixed to fire horizontally, but it was intended that the next four aircraft would have a modified Eeman mounting capable of 45 deg of elevation. The first of the modified F.B.26s was flown in December 1917 with a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza engine. After testing at Martlesham Heath, this aircraft was assigned to No 141 Sqn in February 1918 for service evaluation. It was concluded that the F.B.26 was unsuited for Home Defence duties and work on the incomplete machines was halted, although the second and third examples had been completed and flown meanwhile. As the basic design was considered to possess potential in the close air support role, the second of the modified F.B.26s was fitted with a redesigned nacelle incorporating armour protection for the pilot and a 230 hp Bentley B.R.2 nine-cylinder rotary. This armoured "trench-strafer” was assigned the designation F.B.26A, and, under the official nomenclature scheme introduced in the spring of 1918, became the Vampire II, the F.B.26 being the Vampire I. In the event, the Vampire II had still to be completed by the end of June 1918, and thus came too late on the wartime scene. The following data are applicable to the Hispano-Suiza-engined modified F.B.26.

Журнал Flight

Flight, June 12, 1919.

"MILESTONES"

THE VICKERS MACHINES

The F.B. 26. (July, 1917)

The F.B. 26, constructed in July, 1917, was the outcome of the first Pusher Scout, the F.B. 12, which, having proved so handy, was modified to take the 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine. This machine was flown by Capt. Barker and Capt. McCudden, V.C., D.S.O., both of whom were very pleased with its performance and general manceuvreability. Six more were constructed to take Eeman triple gun-mounts; both forward and elevated, the forward mountings proving very satisfactory, but the elevated mountings, being too unwieldy, were abandoned. The machines were tested at Martlesham, and later at Biggin Hill. A further modification, which was armoured and intended for trench strafing, was also constructed to take the 200 h.p. B.R. 2 engine, the results proving eminently satisfactory. At the conclusion of hostilities, Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., were still awaiting orders concerning this type of machine.